Happy Birthday, Smriti Mandhana!!!
Indian women cricket team’s opener Smriti Mandhana is celebrating her 24th today and the Mumbai based star batsman is considered as one of the most vigorous and dependable players in the Indian team.
The left-handed batswoman had left the world in awe of her talent when she made her T20I debut at the age of just 16. Since then, Mandhana went on to secure her spot in Tests as well as the ODI cricket team.
The elegant opener has achieved a lot in her career so far, and she is also considered one of the best batters in women cricket. In fact, she was the no.1 batswoman in ODIs last year. She possessed her leadership skills when she led the Trailblazers side in Women’s T20 Challenge.
Wishes poured in for the stylish left-handed batter on Twitter as she turns 24 today. 2011 World Cup hero Yuvraj Singh wished her on twitter as he posted:
Related Stories
Happy Birthday @mandhana_smriti. May you continue to excel and keep the Indian flag soaring with pride 🇮🇳 Left handers in the Indian team have a reputation of being very talented, keep that up 🤪 My best wishes #HappyBirthdaySmritiMandhana
— Yuvraj Singh (@YUVSTRONG12) July 18, 2020
Credit: ICC Official Website
Greatest Highlights in Smriti Career
- Smriti broke the record of the former Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly and current skipper Virat Kohli last year. Smriti scored her ninth-consecutive half-century while chasing a target during a game against West Indies. In that game, she also scored 2000 runs by just taking 51 innings. She became the second-fastest player among both men and women cricket to do so.
- She is the Vice-captain of the Indian cricket team and batting sensation also won the ODI player of the year along with ICC Women cricketer award in 2018. The left-handed batsman had compiled 669 runs in 12 ODI’s at an average of 66.90 and also scored 622 runs in 25 T20Is in 2018, thereby becoming only Indian women cricketer to win an ICC award after Jhulan Goswami.
- Mandhana was in the limelight during the 2017 Women World Cup as she started her campaign by scoring 90 runs against England in the opening game, followed by 106* against West Indies in the next game.
- In 2019, Mandhana was conferred with the esteemed Arjuna Award for her indispensable role in the Indian Women cricket.
- The flabbergasting batswoman is also the first Indian woman cricketer to have scored a double century in ODIs. She scored 224* against Gujarat in West Zone U-19 tournament.
- The Indian vice-captain also became the youngest player to become the skipper of the Indian cricket team at the age of just 22 years. Mandhana was appointed as the captain of the T20 team in February 2019.
Mandhana surely has become an iconic figure in the Indian cricket due to her accolades and some of her memorable knocks in her flourishing career. The 24-year-old has so far played 51 ODIs and scored 2025 runs at an average of 43.08 and 1716 runs in 75 matches.
